


The Star Garden

by glim



Category: Merlin (BBC), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Bonding, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-15
Updated: 2010-05-15
Packaged: 2017-10-09 11:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Crossover with <i>Star Wars</i>. Wherein Merlin, Jedi Padawan about to be knighted, and Arthur, prince and Senator from Albia II, become bondmates. (Additional ficlets in the 'verse archived as separate chapters.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

{_34 BBY: The Jedi Order &amp; Galactic Senate host a diplomatic mission to Albia II_}

+

It ought to have been an easy off-world mission.

They'd gone to the small, satellite planet of Ealdor on a visit that was half duty and half holiday and once the time for both was over, Merlin and Gaius were to stop at Albia II and escort the planet's Senator back to Coruscant.

Of course, Merlin's last mission off world with his Master before his own knighting couldn't have been an easy one, could it?

Of course not. By some blessing of the Force, Merlin had the privilege to be standing on the bridge of a ship that had been hijacked before it even left the ground, his master still in the Albian palace with the king.

"By all the gods, who made you a Jedi? Don't just stand there like a gaping fool! You could've been killed a dozen times already if not for me."

And Merlin stuck here on the transport ship with the prince, Arthur.

He gathered the Force to himself, used to it push away one of the attackers, and shrugged his cloak off before drawing his lightsaber to protect both himself and the prince from the others. For all Arthur's jibes, Merlin's skills with the weapon weren't all that poor and he was certainly good enough to defend himself against a few blaster guns. The saber was a familiar weight in his hand, light enough to move smoothly and efficiently, steady enough to be reassuring.

Arthur fought like he'd been born with a sword in his hand and as much as told Merlin that he had been. The one he used was more elegant than the vibro-swords Merlin had seen, a slim, silver beam of knife-sharp energy, the ancient weapon of the Albian nobility. He wore a blaster at his hip, too, and could probably wield that as capably as the sword.

Merlin much preferred the command he had over the Force to manipulate the flow of time and objects through space to weaponry, however. If he had to fight – and he would rather not, he'd rather be back in the Temple, back in the gardens and among the collection of herbs in the small common room he and Gaius shared – he'd rather not use any weapon at all.

If the prince thought that meant he'd just stand around like a fool, well, it turned out doing that was what saved them both. For one of the attackers had a vibro-dagger and was just as good an aim as the Arthur himself, who'd already fought off three of his attackers and could never have seen the blade through the haze of blaster fire.

/Arthur!/

A wave of Merlin's hand stopped the blade in mid-air and a split-second sideways move pushed the prince out the way. Only after they'd landed on the floor of the bridge and Arthur had subdued the last of the attackers just as held arrived, did Merlin realize he never actually voiced the warning that Arthur seemed to have heard him give.

+

"They weren't after Arthur? And they weren't just run of the mill space pirates?" Merlin walked back towards the launch pad, hopefully to reboard and finally get off Albia II. The planet was a beautiful one, and Camelot, its capital, was a city of fine white stone and marble. It was far from home, though.

"Oh, no, they weren't pirates. Albia has a good number of enemies, many involved in the trade disputes." Gaius glanced back towards the palace. "And some are unhappy with the choice of succession for the monarchy. But they were probably after the Senator."

Merlin followed his Master's gaze back towards the royal palace. Gaius would be staying here in an advisory capacity to the king for a few weeks while Merlin would head back to Coruscant with the Senatorial entourage. His behavior aboard the ship during the attack had merited him the place of sole escort to the Albian Senatorial delegation.

"… who isn't Princess Morgana?"

A smile of barely hidden amusement appeared on Gaius's face. "She's chosen to remain here for one term with her partner, the Lady Guinevere, and their daughter, and study the art of kingship."

Merlin felt the answer to his next question before he had to ask it, felt it tingle along the edge of his Force-sense, and settle with something like dread in the pit of his stomach.

No longer dressed in the trim dark tunic and trousers he'd had on earlier and now in his official robes of state, Arthur walked back up to the ship and gave Gaius a brief nod.

"Master Jedi, my family and I are grateful to you for your help. And to your Padawan." He nodded to Merlin, and then jerked his chin toward the ship. "Come on, Merlin. Don't start getting lazy on me already."

+

The trip back to Coruscant was… actually, it was kind of horrible. Their jump into hyperspace didn't go well and there was enough turbulence that Arthur looked a bit green around the edges for a couple hours after.

Merlin just felt restless. He spent the first leg of their trip trying to meditate and clear his mind, but either he couldn't focus well enough or Arthur would come looking for him, asking to spar or play a game of holocards with him. The sparring was all right, despite Arthur's rather intense exuberance in sword fighting, as they were well matched. Merlin, however, was worlds – no, galaxies – better than Arthur at holocard games.

"You're using magic to cheat," Arthur muttered after his fourth loss in a row. His blond hair was long enough to fall into his eyes no matter how many times he pushed his fringe back and he had a tendency to glare at Merlin before brushing it off his face.

"I don't cheat. Nor do I use magic." A flick through the cards cleared the game's memory. "Do you want to play again?"

Arthur shook his head and stood up from the table, stretching his shoulders. "I think I might try and sleep."

Hours and a few more futile attempts at both meditation and sleep later, Merlin found himself walking back to the royal quarters on the ship. He knew Arthur was awake, could sense it at the back of his mind, and wasn't surprised to see him sitting on the crescent sofa, dressed in rumpled sleep clothes and reading from a data pad.

"Can't get to sleep?"

Merlin shook his head and scrubbed at his tired eyes with heel of his hand.

"Me either." The data pad in Arthur's lap clicked off and he reached for the deck of cards. "All right. One more game, but you're letting me win, just because I'm the prince here."

+

Merlin stared at Arthur's annoying face on the holocomm. He hadn't been sleeping well since he returned from the off-world mission and getting woken up by bored princelings wasn't exactly on Merlin's list of things that would make him feel better. "Do you have a reason for waking me up? Or are you just bored? Which, by the way, isn't a reason."

"Don't you Jedi have morning meditation or something?" Arthur even sounded awake, his voice clear and low, and he was already dressed and drinking tea as he talked with Merlin.

"Yes. In the morning. Have you even looked out of your royal windows? It's night time out there."

Arthur shifted uneasily and glanced away from the comm screen. "It doesn't feel like night time…"

"You can dim the glass to opacity one-hundred," Merlin suggested and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Yes. Well. I meant…" Arthur glanced back at Merlin. "It isn't night time on Albia right now."

Merlin stared at Arthur again. He was annoying, frustrating, pratly, and quite possibly the reason Merlin would never reach his knighthood, due to having had every single one of his emotions exacerbated to the point of self-destruction. He'd endured more early morning and late night comm messages and holocalls in the past couple weeks then he'd care to recall. For a prince and diplomat, Arthur seemed to not be aware of any of the Order's rules or guidelines, or, Merlin suspected, he knew them all very well, he just liked to tease Merlin and see if Merlin would try and explain them to him. Every emotion, Merlin reflected, and felt a pang of compassion so strong his heart ached when he looked up to see Arthur watching him intently.

Fifteen minutes later, he was walking through the Temple's Star Garden, Arthur at his side, quiet, and the night sky above them.

"I think, right now? Where my mum lives, on Ealdor, it's just past sunset."

"Ealdor? Jedi don't come from Ealdor."

"Have you actually been to Ealdor?"

Arthur shrugged. "Not as such. But I've been to planets like it." He skimmed the edge of one finger over the leaf of a night-blooming tree. "Do you get to go back? Not as much as you'd like, I suppose."

"Sometimes. It's Gaius's home planet, too, so he usually takes me back with him. I remember leaving, when I was about five or so."

"That's late for a Jedi?"

Merlin nodded.

"Hm. Does that explain your truly appalling lightsaber skills?"

"Perhaps my talents lie elsewhere."

Arthur raised an eyebrow at him, and gave a soft gasp when the leaves at his hand burst into full, colorful blooms. Merlin nudged at the Force a bit more firmly, felt it pulse warm and wonderful against his senses, and then gave a gasp of his own when he felt it nudge back. It was just at tiny movement, subtle, but recognizable, and too strong to be the plant life around him reacting to his gathering of the life-energy in the garden. He gave the sensation another little nudge and smiled to feel it hum along his senses, like it was already part of him and he'd just come upon it fortuitously at this moment.

"What are you doing?" Arthur's fingers slipped over the new, yellow blossoms more gently than they had over the leaves and then briefly touched Merlin's hand. "It's… brilliant."

"That? That's nothing special. Green, growing things like me, I guess."

Arthur's fingers touched his again and Arthur made a thoughtful, inscrutable sound that he offered no explanation for when Merlin frowned at him. His hands remained clasped behind his back for the rest of the walk through the Star Garden, though he never strayed far from Merlin's side.

Merlin brought tea and bread at the sound of the first chime of the morning and at the second, he stood from the bench he and Arthur occupied and rested a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "I really do need to go and do my meditation. You're busy today, too, right?"

"As always. There's a special assembly for the Trade Agreement Committee today that I'm required to attend."

"That sounds glamorous. Is it the textiles committee?"

"The very same. You're welcome to join me."

"I doubt my duties as escort ever extended that far."

"They don't include night walks and early breakfast with diplomats, either," Arthur reminded him. "It's more like a privilege rather than a duty, really."

"Breakfast with you? A privilege? More like a punishment…"

Arthur had on odd smile on his face when they reached the end of their walk out of the garden. He reached over to brush Merlin's fringe out of his eyes and touched the side of his face. "Merlin."

"Your majesty." Merlin gave a slight bow, a decent imitation of the one he'd seen Gaius give visiting diplomats and members of various royal families. When he noticed Arthur still gazing at him, he added a more sincere smile and bid Arthur farewell using his name instead of his title.

+

Because Merlin's life was completely unfair and because Arthur apparently had more power as prince and Senator of Albia II than Merlin thought he did, Merlin ended up attending an incredibly boring number of Senate meetings, assemblies, and celebratory events over the next few months.

At one point, he told Arthur he had no plans or ambitions to earn himself a position as diplomat for the Jedi Order. They had what didn't exactly amount to a fight, as it was made up of them not talking to each other for a week and then glaring when they encountered each other for the next few days after that. But something had changed between them. Arthur looked rather apologetic and unhappy when he finally spoke to Merlin outside his Senate chambers and Merlin felt that strange, stunning tug at his heart that made him want to both push Arthur far, far away from him and hold him close, safe, and hidden.

They'd soul bonded, Merlin was sure of it, even with his inability to put the sensation into words. The closeness that had sprung up between them was more than a simple life debt, though Arthur was fond of invoking it. He wouldn't have Arthur tested, but Merlin knew there was enough of the Force pulsing through Arthur that had enabled them to bond. In a way, it was frustrating for Arthur to be bonded to somebody like Merlin, who already had enough command of partner bonds and Force strength. He'd tried to put it into words for Arthur, had even tried to get their thoughts to align, but Arthur was just going to have to discover the fullness of their bond on his own. And Merlin… was learning the virtue of patience.

Either their bond, or some misplaced feeling of obligation, found Merlin dressed in a new set of rather uncomfortable dress robes, sitting next to Arthur at a Trade Federation banquet. Gaius claimed he didn't trust the Federation and Merlin was inclined to agree, though his distrust stemmed from a feeling of unease rather than only an understanding of their political maneuvers.

There were a great number of toasts, a rather long speech about how the next set of trade negotiations would help re-structure the way the Republic itself functioned, and Merlin thought he might die of his own boredom and the feedback loop he got of Arthur's.

Somebody passed a cup of wine to Arthur, ignored Merlin, and before Merlin realized what he was doing, he reached for the cup and hissed at Arthur to not drink it.

"Merlin! You can't… you can't act like this in front of royalty and government officials. You know that."

"It's poison, I know it. I can feel it." Reaching out to Arthur over their new bond only seemed to make Arthur give him an odd, broken sort of look.

"Through the Force?" Arthur reached for goblet again and shook his head. "Look…"

"No. Arthur, no. I'm Jedi; I can metabolize poisons more quickly."

"You're an idiot, that's what you are." Arthur tugged the goblet back from him and gave the beings seated around them one of his princely, conciliating smiles. "You'll have to pardon my companion. He suffers from a grave, mental—"

"Sorry," Merlin apologized to Arthur and the Twi'lek whose arm he bumped using the Force to extract the goblet from Arthur's hand. He took a sip from the cup, frowned, and took another. "Everything will be fine, Arthur."

Arthur's eyes widened, almost comically, and Merlin felt him try to take away the cup before it clattered to the table and then to the ground. He really hoped Arthur wasn't angry with him, like he had been when Merlin tried to tell him that the friendly snake-alien-being wanted to bite him in a not-friendly manner. Or when he'd accidentally singed Arthur's Senate robes with his lightsaber and Arthur had been completely horrified.

Mostly, he just hoped Arthur wasn't angry, and that whoever had told him about the metabolization of poison hadn't been making things up, because his lungs were burning and the world had gone very dark and swimmy.

Beneath the darkness that cloaked his mind, beneath the heat of his fever and the ache of the poison in his blood, a thread of blue light and gold Force energy skirted along Merlin's senses. It tugged at him, made him fight against the pain and illness that coursed through his body, and left him with no other choice but to tug back. Especially when fear and desperation sparked along the thread, emotions not his own, but felt as acutely, if only momentarily, as if they were.

As if cast against a wall, in a holo-latern image of shifting color and shadow, Merlin saw Arthur, watched him pilot one of the Temple's lancets, walk through caves and gardens, and felt himself pull Arthur back, felt blue and gold and Force and Arthur pulse inside him.

Merlin's chest and throat still burned and the rest of his body ached when he awoke, stripped down to a sweat-soaked tunic and breeches and stretched on Gaius's sleeping pallet. Who was staring down at him with a firmly raised eyebrow of disapproval and his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robes.

"Whatever did you think you were doing, Merlin? You can't go absorbing poison into your body like that."

"It was for Arthur." It was that simple – he'd done it for Arthur, and he'd do it again.

"He saved you, you know. Went to one of the smaller moons outside of Mortaeus for the nectar to produce the antidote."

"I know…"

"How? Merlin, would you care to explain what exactly's going on?"

"I will. Later. I promise."

Merlin let Gaius bathe his face with a cool, damp cloth and leaned into the touch with a sound of relief. He could remember now, the way it felt as if the poison was burning him from the inside out, and how he'd felt – really felt – Arthur race against time and the blackness of uninhabited space to get to Mortaeus and back. With a sudden _oh!_, Merlin jerked away from Gaius and off the pallet.

"Merlin! You can't … you're still weak. Sit, let your body rest. You've been ill for two days." Gaius stood and walked after Merlin as he went in search of a clean tunic and his boots.

"I have to see Arthur. I'll explain, I promise. Thank you," he added, knowing without asking that it has been Gaius who'd given him the nectar and whose healing power had helped him work the poison out of his body.

"You don't –"

"No, I do. I know exactly where he is."

It was dark enough that a few of the blooms had started to open and a few pinpricks of distant starlight shone through the other flickering lights in the Coruscant sky. Arthur stood at the edge of the Star Garden, dressed simply in a loose red tunic and worn, brown breeches, his sword belt on and his blaster at his hip. He wouldn't need them, not here in the Temple, so he must've come straight from his transport. His hair curled slightly at the back of his neck, nearly touching the collar of his tunic, and Merlin had the incurable urge to press his nose into the soft, blond hair there to breathe him in.

"You… you prat. You egotistical, self-confident, brave, amazing… prat. What makes you think you can go racing across the galaxy like that?"

Arthur turned as Merlin approached him, that same odd smile on his face that he'd worn so many times in Merlin's presence since they'd met, and his fingers reached for Merlin as soon as he was close enough.

"You're an idiot," Arthur said, tugged Merlin's sleeve again when Merlin ducked his head, and added, "But you're my idiot."

Merlin reminded Arthur he wasn't, in fact, an idiot, his lips moving against Arthur's, kissing him before Arthur could react and pulling Arthur in as close as he could so they stood, chest to chest and hip to hip. Arthur's lips were warm beneath his own, the bottom one a little chapped, and he tasted like the freshberry tea Gaius made after he'd done his noon meditations.

The Star Garden flickered around them and Merlin felt it all – felt the plants digging down into the damp earth, felt the air and the sky and stars, felt the push of Arthur's mouth against his own and the push against the bond that flourished sudden and strong between them, felt the thrill of desire and affection for this man that the Force had chosen, that he'd chosen for his partner.

He slept incredibly well that night, half-curled against Arthur, one arm, protective, over Arthur's chest. All those emotions, the ones he'd thought would spin out of control, settled into a slow, even pattern as familiar as his own heartbeat.

+

The message light on Merlin's comm portal flickered to interrupt his latest study marathon before he had to sit his trials for knighthood.

} I hate you.

{ Yes, well, I'm not exactly in love with you either right now.

} …

Merlin sighed quietly and put aside the texts on Outer Rim diplomacy and law and flicked back to the messenger.

{ What's wrong?

Arthur was slow in replying and when he finally did, he just sent back:

} …

Another sigh from Merlin. He reached out across the still developing bond between them and willed himself to open his own mind and emotions to Arthur. He'd been trying to study and that never seemed to go very well when he was in easy contact with Arthur. Of course, muting the bond never seemed to go over well, either.

/Thank you. That's somewhat better./

/You're welcome. What's wrong? Really. Arthur./

/I'm sending you a datatext./

That elicited an eye roll from Merlin. Only Arthur would decide he couldn't just tell Merlin what was going on but had to send him an infosheet on it to accompany his explanation. There'd been charts one time and a graph on something that Merlin still hadn't figured out and suspected Arthur just invented.

> PLANTS PLANTS PLANTS PLANTS  
> (lightsaber gone missing again? huh.)  
> TRIALS OH FORCE SAVE ME TRIALS  
> (if gaius kills me nobody will know I failed perhaps?)  
> PLANTSPLANTSFUCKINGPLANTS  
> … … … … … Arthur … … … … …  
> LAWDIPLOMACYKNIGHTINGROBES?  
> PLANTSFOODFOODFOODCLEANTUNIC  
> ~~*~_meditation on the third leaf_~*~~  
> (if i fail perhaps i can go to ealdor to die of shame?)  
> SLEEP GODS I JUST WANT TO SLEEP

Merlin barely suppressed a laugh and cleared his throat to cover the sound.

/My brain does NOT work like that./

/It absolutely does./

/At least you're in the middle of my thoughts? Which are an oasis of calm./

/Whatever. Sending you another datatext./

Merlin could feel Arthur's mind working across their bond. He nudged at Arthur again to figure out where he was. He was supposed to be in a Senate session, but either wasn't there, or wasn't paying much attention. A few more minutes of prodding yielded him the answer: he was in his office, the meeting with the Trade Federation had deteriorated into a good amount of shouting, and Arthur had a headache. Merlin sent a tendril of commiseration and rubbed a hand over his face. Well, at least that accounted for some of his own fatigue this morning.  


> meetings: senate/diplomatic advisors | communication: replies and organization   
> MERLIN MY DEAR BONDMATE AND LIFE PARTNER  
> family: father/morgana, gwen, &amp; elianna/merlin  
> recreation: meals/exercise/holoweb/reading/merlin

The next time Merlin almost laughed it came out like a hiccup and he clapped a hand over his mouth to contain it. Hand still over his mouth, he made a little touched sound at how Arthur thought of him as both bondmate and family. And recreation. Which… upon consideration was sort of crazy, but then, after another moment's consideration, Merlin decided his own thoughts to Arthur probably looked, crazy, too, though not as insane as Arthur's depiction of them.

/I'm free this evening. You?/

/Actually, yes. Come for dinner. And Merlin?/

/Yes?/

/I know. I mean… about me not being in the tiniest font in your thoughts./

+

Arthur occupied the rooms set aside for the Albian royal family in the embassy building, though he could have chosen to live in the ones reserved for the planet's Senator.

"Morgana's really the one who serves as Albia's Senator; once Elianna's old enough to travel, she and Gwen will return to Coruscant. " Arthur took Merlin's robe and padded quietly across the sitting room. He was dressed simply again, in a plain tunic – blue this time – and the soft breeches Merlin was starting to like him in best. Barefoot, too, and though he looked exhausted, he also looked relaxed. "She'll also inherit the crown from my father, but she's hoping to serve in the Senate for a decent number of years before that happens. Morgana… she's better at all the job entails, at the diplomatic relations, the travel and the Senatorial debates, living in the public world like that."

"What about you? You're…"

"Trained to lead the army, actually."

Merlin felt ill at the thought of Arthur constantly entering battle. Before he could even come close to voicing the thought, Arthur's hand rested on his arm.

"Everything will work out. We'll make it work, right?"

"Yeah. We will." The feeling of unease faded, but slowly, and Merlin let Arthur lead him over to the dinner table. He waited until Merlin had unclipped his saber and pulled off both his belt and boots to hand him a cup of tea.

"I tried to remember what you'd like to eat."

"You could've asked. No large slabs of meat?"

"No large slabs of meat."

Dinner turned out to be more than acceptable. Rice with vegetables and daro root in a savory sauce, and sweet pudding and draka nuts for dessert. Arthur poured more tea after dinner and settled behind Merlin, both of them still seated on the floor cushions, to rub Merlin's neck and shoulders. Just having Arthur's hands on his body eased the tension that had built up during the day of study and of being separated from Arthur. Desire kindled slowly inside Merlin along with the touch and he sighed to feel Arthur's breathe tickle his ear.

"Is it strange for you, too? To care so much for somebody you've only known for a few months?"

"Mm… sort of? I have a bond with my Master, you know."

"Oh." Arthur's hands stilled on Merlin's shoulders. "I forgot about that."

"Don't stop; that feels really good." Merlin turned to brush his lips over Arthur's hand. His thumbs rubbed at the base of Merlin's neck and in a minute, they were both relaxed again and Arthur continued the back rub.

The best part was feeling Arthur relax against him, the shields he probably wasn't even aware of lowering, his body and his mind warming to Merlin's in that intimate way that only bonded couples had. Merlin could feel the little things about Arthur's day – how the headache he'd had earlier had only faded after he'd talked to Merlin on the comm and after he'd returned to his rooms here; how much he'd enjoyed their quiet dinner together and how much he enjoyed touching Merlin now.

/I like that, too. Your hands on my body./

Arthur startled a little behind him, but didn't move away.

/Good god. I'm still not used to that, having to live with your voice in my head now, when we could just talk./

Merlin leaned back against Arthur, until Arthur's arms went around him and he could stroke the back of Arthur's hands where they settled on his stomach. A quiet kiss touched the back of Merlin's neck and he smiled with satisfaction when Arthur held him more tightly.

/It's not really like this, the bond I have with Gaius. It doesn't feel like this at all./

/Good. Because… It's hard enough for me to handle this./

Settling in closer to Arthur, Merlin tipped his head to the side and brushed a kiss against Arthur's jaw. He turned to unbelt Arthur's tunic and to slip one hand inside, his palm flat against Arthur's chest, thumb stroking the warm skin.

/You're doing fine. It'll get easier./

/After it gets harder. When we're apart and far from each other./

Merlin turned in Arthur's arms to kiss him again, lips just touching the side of his neck.

/That will always be hard. I'm sorry… We're not apart now, though./

"No," Arthur murmured, "no, we're not."

Lips still against Arthur's neck, Merlin nuzzled against him affectionately and started stroking his chest again. He'd make Arthur his, bind them together life and soul, and twist together all the wonder and frustration of their lives.

Merlin stood, pulling Arthur up off the floor with him, and kept Arthur's hand in his own to walk Arthur to the bedchamber. With a wave of his hand, the rest of the lights in Arthur's quarters dimmed and the ones in the bedchamber set themselves at fifteen percent.

That gave Merlin just enough light to see how Arthur's eyes darkened and his lips parted at the touch of Merlin's hands and mouth moving over his body.

Enough light, too, for Merlin to watch how Arthur undid the sash of his tunic and lace of his breeches with hasty fingers until he had Merlin completely naked and flushed with desire. The echo of emotion – arousal and need – between them was amazing, something Merlin had never felt with anyone as intensely as this. But just watching their bodies move together – the tangle of limbs and the slide of skin, the way Arthur's hand fitted against his hip, the splay of his fingers over Arthur's stomach – was so effortless, so intimate.

Mouthing down Arthur's body, Merlin licked and nipped at his skin until Arthur was a wreck, breath coming in short, sharp gasps, hair damp with sweat, eyes bright with feverish arousal.

/Is it too much?/

Arthur shook his head, arched against the palm of Merlin's hand against his arousal, and drew warm fingertips across Merlin's cheek.

/I need you. Now. Don't think I can last./

Merlin drew back to look down and watch Arthur for a few more moments, until he reached the end of his own patience at the feel of Arthur's fingers moving to stroke the inside of his arm. He spilled warm slick oil between them, over his hands and over Arthur, more than they'd need, but Merlin's hand was shaking and he couldn't resist the slip of their bodies against each other.

When they were joined, life and soul and body, Arthur, shattered and beautiful beneath him and as Merlin moved inside him, Merlin knew he'd never have to court such resistance again.

+

{_19 BBY: The Galactic Empire is born_}

+

It felt like the universe was falling apart.

Merlin was on Albia II, parsecs and parsecs away from Coruscant, but the destruction of the Temple echoed through him and the pain, terror, and sadness felt as if he, too, were standing in the middle of the ruin.

Something inside him died as soon as the band was fastened around his wrist and he knew Arthur felt it, too. His eyes were dull and sad when they met Merlin's and Merlin remembered that they'd looked that way the days following the great state funeral that honored Uther Pendragon. Force dampener. Arthur wanted to hide him. Maybe he could. Merlin examined his wrist. The band… it looked like one Arthur might have given him years ago when they'd first bonded and Arthur in his frustrating manner hadn't yet realized Jedi wouldn't wear anything that elaborate.

"I kept your secret once, eons and eons ago. Do you remember? Merlin?"

Merlin blinked at Arthur. There wasn't even pain where there used to be warmth, the familiar sensation of the Force bond. There wasn't anything. Just the dull blankness of absence and inestimable loss. Merlin blinked again when Arthur's hands settled on his shoulders and shook him gently.

"Merlin? _Please_. Do you remember?" Arthur kept touching him, stroking his hair and the side of his face, kept giving him this strange, desperate, pleading look. "I'm so sorry, I know you hate this… Having to do this again. Do you remember? You were so young that first time… Do you remember? The first time you saw Camelot?"

They were sitting in Arthur's bedchamber, Merlin realized, though his last memory was of meditating in the solar room of the royal gardens. He'd have to ask Arthur if all the plexi-glass had shattered around him or if it had only been a pain-filtered dream. He couldn't remember anything but the shattering pain and the screaming, and then Arthur's hands on his face, coaxing him awake, and the smooth, cool sheets on Arthur's bed. Merlin turned to Arthur and pressed his cheek against Arthur's palm.

No, no, that was wrong, all wrong. He remembered Arthur, and that first life, and realized it must've been the sudden onslaught of pain and loss that had jarred those memories for both of them.

There, just beyond his senses, was something thin and fine, like the barest filament of beaten gold, twisted around his heart. Fifteen years he'd known Arthur and for most of those fifteen years, there had been something incredible between them, something that stretched across the galaxy.

Arthur had been right – it had gotten hard and it never, ever got easy to be apart, though after a few years it had gotten bearable. The connection between them had become so much a part of Merlin's life that even when he wasn't fighting by Arthur's side, even when the Clone Wars had spread so far across the galaxy that he'd been called to fight in worlds farther and farther away, he'd always felt Arthur. He'd always known when he was going to come home ill or injured, had known when he was happy or content or full of that fuzzy sense of half-asleep warmth.

And now, finally, now he knew that connection stretched across time as well as space and in that moment, what had once been the future became the present.

Merlin gave a slow nod and reached up to graze the tips of his fingers against Arthur's jaw. "I remember. Oh, Arthur," he whispered, voice still rough and raw, and pulled Arthur into his arms.

How strange, Merlin thought, to have to keep his secret again, to have to ask Arthur to do so once more, to witness the start of destruction and not the end. How strange, to feel hope in a time when it seemed as if hope had been muted and shut away like a secret that could never be revealed.


	2. Concession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin and Arthur spar; Arthur yields.

"Come on, Merlin! I know you can do better than that."

Merlin grunted and the blue beam of his light saber collided with the silver one of Arthur's sword, a sizzle of electricity sparking through the air and over Arthur's senses.

"Somebody told me we'd just spar for fun, to work off some energy." A slow smile appeared on Merlin's face and as he started to walk Arthur towards the wall of the training room. "Maybe I'm holding back."

Arthur loved watching him like this, loved to see Merlin confident in his power and abilities, loved to see him already growing into his role as Jedi Knight. They'd both stripped down to tunics and breeches; Arthur loved that, too: the feel of linen clinging to his skin, the sight of Merlin sweating through the thin material. He loved how Merlin would spar with him, even though he knew this was something Arthur enjoyed more than he did. "Don't. Don't hold back. Show me-"

Before he could finish the sentence, a wave of Force energy hit Arthur in the chest and pushed him right up against the wall. Merlin's smile caught had him unaware and Arthur slid down to the floor, the silver beam of his sword powering itself down as he flicked the blade off. A laugh bubbled up from deep inside Arthur when the smile faded to an expression of concern on Merlin's face, and then returned to a smile when Arthur kicked one foot out to tumble Merlin on top of him.

"Do you yield?" Merlin breathed the words over Arthur's face, his lips so close to Arthur's that he could almost feel the shape of Merlin's words against his mouth. "Your highness?"

Arthur could only laugh again in reply. "Now you call me your highness? When the title means nothing between the two of us?"

Merlin dipped his head down to kiss Arthur, shifted so their legs and hips fit together, and kissed him again. "I like how much you laugh when you're at home here on Albia."

"That's because we've only had to get through two official royal functions so far. I haven't had a chance to get cranky yet."

"It's because you're home."

"It's because I'm not sitting through interminable Senate meetings."

Reaching up, Arthur traced the edge of Merlin's lips with one fingertip and stroked his jaw. Sweat darkened the hair at Merlin's temples and glistened on his face and neck, down into the vee of his light tunic. Content, then arousal, pulsed along the bond between them at Arthur's touch. Merlin nuzzled into it, turning his face to press a kiss to Arthur's palm, and nudged his hips against Arthur's with another pulse of warm arousal. He was half-hard already and the blue of his eyes darkened as Arthur's fingers tracked over the line of his jaw.

The first royal function Arthur had attended since his return to Albia II after the close of this season's senate sessions was a simple banquet in the palace with the rest of his family and various members of the Albian nobility. It had been, of course, an excuse for everyone to meet Merlin, the man who, in a few weeks, would become Arthur's prince consort.

Arthur stroked down the side of Merlin's face to his neck, then curved his fingers into Merlin's hair. It was longer now than it was when they'd first met here on Albia before Arthur's journey to Coruscant; he'd been growing his hair out since he'd been knighted. That ceremony had been a quiet one from what Merlin had told Arthur about it. Their first bonding ceremony had been a small, quiet affair, too, and had taken place in the Star Garden at the Temple.

The second function they'd attended, the one that Arthur's father had held last night to announce the banns between his son and the Knight Emrys had not been quiet. Their bonding ceremony here would be a royal event that would last for days.

Arthur rested his palm against Merlin's neck and felt his heart beat faster at the subtle shift of Merlin's body against his, the hardness of Merlin's arousal against his thigh, the angle of Merlin's hips, the press of his arm along Arthur's side.

"Bedchamber," Arthur murmured. "We can't do this here."

Merlin's lips touched to the inside of Arthur's wrist. "Do you yield?"

This time, Arthur couldn't laugh in reply. His body yearned toward Merlin and the mental and emotional shields he'd raised during their sparring match all dissolved.

"Bedchamber," he repeated.

Merlin kissed him long and deep before helping Arthur up off the floor. He held Arthur's hand in his own the whole walk back the prince's bedchambers, content and arousal radiating all through their bond at the knowledge that Arthur had yielded to him months ago.

Thus, when Merlin lowered him onto his bed, Arthur found it easy to let Merlin hold him down and kiss his wrists again, to nuzzle at his chest and stomach to find all the places that, when touched, made Arthur want to arch up off the bed only to be pushed back down more firmly.

Their skin slick with sweat of saber fighting, Merlin ran a hand down Arthur's side and made a soothing noise in reply to the deep, desperate sound that Arthur made.

"Hush," he said, soft and barely voiced, and his fingertips were warm and his presence across their bond was a wash of gold light over Arthur's senses.

/Hush./

Arthur felt the word echo though his mind at the same time he felt Merlin's touch echo all over his body, fingers still at his side, but the tickling and teasing skittered out to the tips of his fingers and toes.

Whatever Arthur wanted, whatever he needed from Merlin and whatever way he wanted to be touched, Merlin would give him.

And that great welling of desire inside him and how easy it was to let it spill over the bond between him and Merlin and how easy it was to share such desire with his partner, that more than anything else told Arthur how any ceremony was unnecessary. Arthur would concede to his father's wishes and Albian tradition, aware that he'd already been chosen by Merlin and that their lives had been twined together.

It was still strange to feel Merlin's voice inside his mind or the reverberation of his emotions alongside Arthur's own. It was even more extraordinary to know that all his vulnerabilities as well as his strengths had been laid bare to this man, this wonderful man, who held them all inside him and still loved Arthur in spite of them.

A sound, part cry and part laugh, broke from Arthur's throat at the brush of Force-guided touch down the length of his arms and between his thighs. Merlin's delight and desire filled him again with swelling warmth and Arthur couldn't stop his body from curving up off the bed and against Merlin's body.

He'd given this to Merlin, too, his sense of self-control and self-containment, the idea that what he felt and needed was his alone. Here, in their bed, those boundaries fell away, for the time that their bodies slid against each other, heated skin and hard arousal, and the great, growing need inside Merlin that Arthur felt inside himself.

He couldn't do what Merlin could do – guide the Force to make it feel as if all of Arthur were being caressed at once – but he could kiss his way down Merlin's neck, sucking and licking until Merlin shuddered. Arthur could do that, and could smooth his hands down Merlin's sides to settle at his hips, stroking gently, then holding him firm while climax built between them.

Merlin gasped, the sound loud and rough, and he tensed against Arthur. His mouth found Arthur's shoulder, kissing and then just breathing against him.

It was like being touched all over, like Merlin could wrap himself around and slide himself inside Arthur all at once, and thank all the gods it only lasted a short time, while they rubbed off against each other, hands wandering and mouth crushed against each other, or Arthur might not have lasted through the loop of shared sensation.

When Arthur came to, sticky and sated, he blinked slowly to see Merlin smiling down at him once more. His hand was on Arthur's chest, tracing lazy circles, and he leaned in to nose through Arthur's hair.

"I think I won that round…"

"… think you cheated," Arthur mumbled. "Knew I'd already given into you."

Merlin hummed a soft note of satisfaction and rubbed his face into Arthur's hair. Arthur pulled him in tight, reached out to their bond, and gave a sigh of content to discover he could feel there, as well as in Merlin's pliant body that curled next to his, how warm, sleepy, and satisfied Merlin was.


End file.
